Lantern

At dusk on Sunday a glittering procession of lanterns and illuminated floats will light up London's riverside and bring this year's Mayor's Thames Festival to a stunning climax.

Tens of thousands are expected this weekend at the event, which has become one of the highlights of London's calendar. Festivities on and next to the river between Waterloo and Blackfriars bridges will include river races, live music, street theatre and circus performers.

Today the South Bank goes international with stalls selling food and crafts from across the world. A funfair by Gabriel's Wharf includes the festival's own ferris wheel, nicknamed the Baby Eye.

Between 7pm and 10pm the festival's artist in residence, Peter Hillary, will reveal a cluster of 25 bamboo and paper towers, lit entirely by candles, that he has installed on the river.

Tomorrow, more than 300 traditional boats, including Chinese dragon boats, Cornish gigs and war canoes, will sail 22 miles from Ham House to Island Gardens in the Great River Race.

The festival's defining feature, however, will be the lantern procession on Sunday between 7.30pm and 10pm, with floats, giant figures and lanterns created by artists, schools, youth clubs, housing co-operatives, and projects working with the elderly. The parade will run along Victoria Embankment, across Blackfriars Bridge and west along Upper Ground to the National Theatre.

Dominating it will be the Mayor of London's float, a 30ft by 17ft high animated lantern sculpture of a woman swimming. Around 5,000 people, including schoolchildren, helped design and make it.

A two-minute silence will be observed on Sunday for victims of the terrorist attacks in America. The fireworks display planned for that day has been cancelled.

Mayor Ken Livingstone said: "I am delighted to put the Mayor's name to the Thames Festival. It gives Londoners an opportunity to celebrate the importance of the river, London's greatest asset."